Friends: 10 Reasons Joey & Janine Were Doomed From The Start

One of the least-loved relationships on Friends has to be Janine and Joey, who had a brief connection in season six. Played by supermodel Elle Macpherson, this character existed in large part as just a really cool celebrity cameo (much like Rachel’s time dating Paul Stevens, played by Bruce Willis). However, she was also a semi-legitimate love interest for Joey, and his temporary roommate after Chandler moved out.

Fans knew that this wasn’t going to become a long-term relationship in part because of the cameo aspect of it – Friends wasn’t going to suddenly bring Elle Macpherson on as a recurring cast member. But even if Janine was played by someone who could have joined the show full-time, there were obvious signs that she and Joey were just not meant to be…

10 He Was Only Interested Because She Was Gorgeous

When Chandler moves out, Joey is left looking for a roommate, and originally decides that he just wants a ‘hot chick’ to share his living space. He even posts an ad that initially reads ‘non-smoker, non-ugly’. Presumably, Janine replied to a different, less creepy version of the ad, and Joey agreed to take her on as a roommate instantly, and based entirely on her looks. When introducing her to his friends as his new roommate, it’s revealed that he didn’t ask her job, her financial status, or anything else about her. From the start, then, he was just into Janine because she was gorgeous, and found her so stunning that he stopped thinking clearly.

9 She Was Rude To His Friends…

The biggest problem with Janine, and the thing that eventually ended the relationship, was that she was openly rude about Monica and Chandler – a huge issue for Joey, for obvious reasons. However, it was fairly obvious from the start that while Janine was polite to the gang, she really didn’t like them. She found their Thanksgiving traditions silly, and patronizingly talked about her own drunken rooftop ‘Thanksgiving’. She often seemed to be forcing her politeness, and showed no interest in actually becoming part of that social circle.

8 … And They Hated Her Right Back

Of course, the gang weren’t particularly welcoming to Janine, either. While Monica and Chandler did try, in the end, it was clear from the start that the other men were just drooling all over her and objectifying her and her friends, the women weren’t overly nice to her either.

Given how Rachel and Monica, in particular, are portrayed in the series, it’s no wonder that they treated a beautiful woman as some kind of competition, acting cold toward her (until she had something they wanted, like an invite to Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve).

7 They Didn’t Have Anything In Common

While Joey was obviously attracted to Janine, they didn’t really seem to have much in common that could be used as the foundation of a real relationship. They do have similar careers, in dancing and acting, but that’s pretty much it. Her style is completely different to his, especially in the way that she decorates the apartment, and while Joey seems interested in learning about some of her ‘feminine’ hobbies (that eventually lead to his fear that he’s ‘becoming a girl’, because of living with her – and because Friends was far from progressive around gender norms), they don’t really have anything they both love at the start.

6 Joey’s Obsession With Food

If there’s one thing that Joey does love, it’s food. It’s a huge character trait for him, and it’s important to note that his love of food actually causes issues in other relationships because it’s so extreme. Janine, meanwhile, is shown as relatively uninterested in food. Some of this may be because, as a dancer, she has to be extremely cautious about her figure, but even if it’s reasonable, it’s just not something that lines up for a relationship with someone who is so in love with food himself.

5 He Wanted To Hit On Her Friends

Joey isn’t particularly discriminating when it comes to women, and will throw a ‘how you doin’ at pretty much anyone he meets (that he finds attractive). But this is particularly problematic when it comes to Thanksgiving, and he makes it clear that he wants to leave his friends to go hang out with the ‘hot drunk dancers’. So, by the time he and Janine actually get together, he has already spent time objectifying and hitting on all her friends. Not the best start, really.

4 They Lived Together From The Start

When Monica first meets Janine, she tells Joey that he can’t date her because of the living situation – and she’s pretty spot on with this one. While it can work, roommates who start to date can just cause problems.

For one thing, it accelerates the relationship immediately, and gives the people in it no real space at the very beginning. Plus, of course, Joey dating Janine did lead to him eventually needing to find a new roommate when things went wrong.

3 She Brought Out The Worst In Him

Joey may not be a perfect character, but Janine really did bring out the absolute worst in him. His behavior at the New Year’s Eve filming, where he splashes water on a stranger’s pants and then tells everyone he peed himself, is childish, competitive, and unwarranted (even if the guy in question is a bit of a jerk). He objectifies women even more than usual with her around (which isn’t her fault, of course, but is not something that is a positive change in Joey), and his interest in her leads to him wanting to ditch his own friends from time to time. Even if it’s not Janine’s fault that he changes for the worst around her, he still does.

2 She Wasn’t Interested From The Beginning

It’s not the best sign when someone flat-out isn’t interested, and has to be persuaded into dating – and that’s what happened with Joey and Janine. Initially, when he told her that he was concerned about attraction or chemistry, she told him outright that she just didn’t see him that way. (Not even after a how you doing!) That’s a huge red flag, as both were available, and both potentially looking for a relationship, but both weren’t considering it from the start.

1 They Never Seem To Just Have Fun

While Janine is portrayed as a fun-loving woman, there aren’t many scenes that really show the two of them just having fun. They have funny scenes, sexy scenes, scenes that show their chemistry, but they don’t have any where they are just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company. This may be in part because she had such a small part on the show, or it may be that seeing them just watching TV isn’t considered exciting viewing, but it was a red flag to see Joey just actively pursuing her for her looks, not for how much fun they had together.

About The Author

Rose Graceling-Moore
(1516 Articles Published)

See also  Afterlife's Deleted 1990s Ghostbuster Movie Gag Made Its Story More Tragic

Rose Graceling-Moore has been writing about film, TV and comics since 2013, when she began writing for a local print magazine in Vancouver, BC. Since then, Rose has written for Horror Honeys, Moviepilot and Quirkbooks as well as Screenrant, increasingly focusing on comic books and live-action comic adaptations, as well as diversity and representation on screen. Rose also co-hosted the DC Movies Podcast, and has guested on other nerd and entertainment podcasts over the past five years.

Rose’s love of comics began all the way back in the early ‘90s, when she discovered the X-Men while living in Africa (where there wasn’t a whole lot to do but read!), and since then has had an on-again, off-again love affair with not just Marvel, but DC and indie comics as well. You can follow her on Twitter: RoseMooreWrites for tweets about comics, movies, and more.

More From Rose Graceling-Moore